OVERBAY, William H., b 1833; 1905 Bio, Delta County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/delta/bios/overbaywh.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 11, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- William H. Overbay Assuming the burden and responsibility of making his own way in the world at the age of seventeen, and entering soon afterward for the purpose the untrodden fields of the father West, and here pursuing with industry and steadiness of effort the various occupations open to him with the alterations of fortune incident to the situation, William H. Overbay, of Delta county, this state, has met life's calls to duty with a manly and resolute spirit and won from the opportunities available to him a good estate and a well established place in the regard and good will of his fellow men. He is a native of Virginia, born on January 6, 1833, and the son of Henry and Selvana (Overbay) Overbay, natives of that state. The father was a carpenter and small farmer, respected by his neighbors and useful in the general duties of citizenship. The family in course of time moved to Tennessee and later to Kentucky, where the father died in 1883 and the mother in 1887. When the Civil war began the father espoused actively the cause of the North and entered the Union army, in which he rendered good service, escaping the terrible ordeals incident to the memorable contest without serious injury. There were eight children in the family and all of them but William are living in Kentucky. He left home in 1850, at the age of seventeen, to work for himself, going to Kentucky for the purpose. Six years later he moved to Missouri and soon afterward to Kansas. In 1859 he came to Colorado, reaching Denver in September. He at once went to mining, and after working at this employment until February, 1860, at Blackhawk and elsewhere, he left Denver in company with two other men, traveling through the Pike's Peak country by teams and over the Blue Range on snow shoes, leaving the teams in South Park. He continued prospecting through a wide extent of country until the winter of 1861, when he and eighty-five others were snowed in for five months in what is now Gunnison county, meeting no one and hearing nothing from the outside world. They had laid in provisions for a protracted stay, but these were exhausted before the end came, and they were near starvation, when Mr. Overbay and another man journeyed on snow shoes in April to a gulch within their reach, and there they found a more abundant supply of food. He passed the time at various places in this state until the spring of 1863, then went to Montana, where he mined with profit until 1864, cleaning up good returns for his labor. In the year last named he made a trip to British Columbia, and on his return to Montana again engaged in profitable mining, making over ten thousand dollars in eight weeks. He leased mines and bought some, all of which he worked with industry until 1866, then sold his interests and bought other property in Highland gulch which he operated until 1868. In the spring of that year he sold out and moved to South Pass, Wyoming. In the following fall he changed his residence to Salt Lake City, but after remaining there a short time started on a tour of observation which took him to various parts of Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona, during which he was prospecting. In the autumn of 1871 he returned to Colorado and continued mining until 1881, when he settled on a portion of the ranch which is his present home, pre-empting one hundred and sixty acres, to which he added afterward eighty acres by purchase. At that time the section was not open to settlement, it being yet a part of the Indian reservation and in charge of the United States troops. They denied his right to occupy the land and hunted him with the determination of driving him out. He had a secure hiding place to which he returned from time to time, walking backward through the snow so that the soldiers were unable to track him to it. They got his horses, however, but he afterward had these returned to him, and sometime later, after a hard struggle, secured peaceful and uncontested possession of his land. He has greatly improved the place, set out ten acres in fruit and brought about fifty acres into productiveness in alfalfa, the rest being grazing land. He also has one hundred stands of bees which do well and yield a good revenue. He keeps enough cattle to consume the feed he raises, and all lines of his ranching and other industries are managed with vigor and success. On January 14, 1885, he united in marriage with Miss Sarah L. West, a native of Canada and daughter of Henry T. and Sarah (Woodward) West, both of whom were born in England. The father died in 1884 and Mrs. Overbay came with her mother soon afterward to Colorado, where the mother died in 1886. There were two children, the son being now a resident of Aspen. Mr. and Mrs. Overbay have five children, Dora M., William H., Lloyd W., Leon J. and Ila E. The father belongs to the Democratic party. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. 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